ANOTHER VISIT OF TURKISH JOURNALISTS IN ARMENIA
On October 18-22 a group of Turkish journalists visited Armenia under a joint program of Yerevan Press Club and the Association of Diplomacy Correspondents of Turkey. The program is implemented since January 2002 and is supported by the Center for Global Peace of American University (Washington, D.C.). This was the fourth visit under the project, which stipulates mutual visits of Armenian and Turkish journalists to learn about the lives of the two countries for the subsequent coverage in their media. The previous meetings were held in Ankara, Istanbul and Yerevan (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, July 20 – August 2, 2002, May 4-10, 2002, and January 12-18, 2002).
On October 19 the Turkish journalists visited Gyumri, the administrative center of Shirak region and the second major city of the country, where they met the Vice-Mayor, the representatives of non-governmental organizations and journalists.
On October 20 in Yerevan a round table meeting was held, where the media representatives of the two countries discussed such urgent issues as the ways for overcoming the controversies between Armenia and Turkey, the coverage of election campaigns, the media influence on the social and political life of the society, the relations between Armenia and Turkey. The participants also spoke about the differences and similarities that the press of the two countries has when covering regional issues. Stephen Ladek of the Center for Global Peace took part in the discussion.
The next day the Turkish journalists met representatives of the Armenian politics and business world.
On October 18-22 a group of Turkish journalists visited Armenia under a joint program of Yerevan Press Club and the Association of Diplomacy Correspondents of Turkey. The program is implemented since January 2002 and is supported by the Center for Global Peace of American University (Washington, D.C.). This was the fourth visit under the project, which stipulates mutual visits of Armenian and Turkish journalists to learn about the lives of the two countries for the subsequent coverage in their media. The previous meetings were held in Ankara, Istanbul and Yerevan (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, July 20 – August 2, 2002, May 4-10, 2002, and January 12-18, 2002).
On October 19 the Turkish journalists visited Gyumri, the administrative center of Shirak region and the second major city of the country, where they met the Vice-Mayor, the representatives of non-governmental organizations and journalists.
On October 20 in Yerevan a round table meeting was held, where the media representatives of the two countries discussed such urgent issues as the ways for overcoming the controversies between Armenia and Turkey, the coverage of election campaigns, the media influence on the social and political life of the society, the relations between Armenia and Turkey. The participants also spoke about the differences and similarities that the press of the two countries has when covering regional issues. Stephen Ladek of the Center for Global Peace took part in the discussion.
The next day the Turkish journalists met representatives of the Armenian politics and business world.
EXPLOSION IN THE CENTER OF YEREVAN
In the evening of October 22 in the center of Yerevan an explosion occurred leaving the Deputy Director of Caucasus Media Institute, journalist Mark Grigorian injured. The explosion was supposedly caused by a trench bomb. According to Mark Grigorian, he did not remember the man who had thrown the bomb. The journalist also found it hard to give reasons for the incident, mentioning that lately he had been preparing a story on the trial on the terrorist attack in the Armenian Parliament of October 27, 1999, for the electronic newsletter of the London Institute of War and Peace Reporting.
The Prosecutor’s Office of Yerevan instituted criminal proceedings by the article of “intended murder attempt with aggravating circumstances”.
DRAFT LAW “ON FREEDOM OF INFORMATION” PASSED IN THE FIRST READING
On October 23 the National Assembly of Armenia passed the draft RA Law “On Freedom of Information” in the first reading. The draft law was developed by the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on State and Legal Issues Viktor Dallakian and deputy Vardan Bostanjian, basing on the document developed by the task force of Yerevan Press Club. Further, YPC, the Association of Investigative Journalists of Armenia, the Civil Society Development Union and Internews-Armenia took part in the discussion of the draft. Before the adoption of the document in the first reading the representatives of these NGOs and Toby Mendel of “Article 19” British organization reviewed the last version of the draft. In their opinion, the Law “On Freedom of Information” must cover only the state structures and local self-administration bodies. The inclusion of non-governmental organizations into the draft makes no sense, since the mere status of NGO calls for transparency and openness in their activities. Besides, contrary to the numerous suggestions of journalists, the obligation of the state structures to provide information has not been stipulated by the draft, the notion of “information officer” in the state organization is lacking, too. Also, what is most important, the restrictions of information provision are not narrated clearly enough and can cause diverging interpretations. It is crucial to give a complete listing of all the possible cases when the information provision can be restricted. The possibility of getting an immediate answer to oral and not time-consuming queries is not envisaged, either.
These and other suggestions of the NGOs were submitted to the appropriate Parliamentary Committee. The authors of the draft law expressed their readiness to continue collaborating so that the draft is improved before its adoption in the second reading.
“MEETING POINT” IN LIFE VIA INTERNET
“We are here to help you find relatives, family members, pals” is the slogan of the new web-site titled “Meeting Point” that has recently appeared on the Internet. The project, implemented by “Team” Research Center and supported by the OSI Assistance Foundation-Armenia, is to help people in different parts of the world to renew the contacts lost, find their friends and re-unite their families scattered around by the occurrences of the last decade. “We hope that with the help of our data base equipped with a detailed seat system it will be possible to learn about at least some of these people”, the Project Director Mikhail Diloyan said. On the trilingual site (Armenian, English, Russian) the data of the RA Ministry of Interior Affairs about missing people, free event announcements, lost-and-found ads and emergency notifications are placed.
THE WEB SITE OF THE ASSOCIATION OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS NOW IN ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN LANGUAGES
On October 21 the English and Russian versions of the web site of the Association of Investigative Journalists of Armenia, created a year ago in Armenian, were launched. The web site tells about the activities of the Association itself, the Center of Freedom of Information, established by it, the electronic editions of these NGOs, etc.
ARMENIAN AWARDEES OF THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISTIC COMPETITION “DESPITE”
On October 22 at the Central House of Journalist in Moscow the award ceremony for the winners of the International Competition of Journalists “Despite” named after Larisa Yudina was held. The competition was established by “Novaya Gazeta”, the Association of the Russian Regional Media Leaders, Glasnost Defense Foundation and “Yabloko” party in commemoration of Larisa Yudina, the Chief Editor of “Sovetskaya Kalmykia” newspaper killed in Elista. The event is conducted annually, on the birthday of Larisa Yudina. The awardees in the competition are the journalists and media who perform their professional duty under any circumstances – despite all obstacles.
This year “Despite” became international for the first time: along with Russian media, it accommodated the representatives of other CIS countries (Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine). The 27 winners included our Armenian colleagues, too.
“Golos Armenii” was the first non-Russian newspaper that was awarded. The other awardee from Armenia was the Chief Editor of “Urartu” newspaper Iosif Verdian.
5TH EURASIAN FORUM: “CROSSROAD” RECOGNIZED THE BEST IN “PARTNERSHIP” NOMINATION
On October 12-16 in Moscow the 5th Eurasian Television Forum, organized by the Eurasian Television Academy, was held. During this traditional (since 1998) annual meeting of the TV professionals the creative competition of television films and programs took place. The weekly news program “Crossroad”, the joint product of the Internews offices in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, was recognized the best in the “Partnership” nomination. The program has been on the air of the three countries since March 1998. At the TV Forum, “Crossroad” was also awarded a special prize by the Modern Humanitarian University for the contribution in the international cooperation.
“JOURNALISTS AT WAR IN KARABAGH” BOOK PUBLISHED
On October 24 in Yerevan at the House of Journalist the presentation of “Journalists at War in Karabagh” book was held. The book was published by the Russian Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations with the support of Open Society Institute (Budapest). The book comprises the articles of journalists from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Mountainous Karabagh and Russia, who worked in Karabagh during the military actions. A special section of the book titled “Memorium” introduces information about the journalists who were killed, injured or harassed during the conflict. The publication was presented to the Armenian media representatives by the Director of Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations Oleg Panfilov.
On October 26 a similar presentation will be held in Stepanakert.
ON-LINE MAGAZINE ON THE NATIONAL CULTURE ISSUES
On October 24 the presentation of the on-line monthly magazine “Arvest”/”Art” was held. The edition is devoted to the issues of the national culture and cultural policy. The magazine in the Armenian and Russian languages is published by the Armenian Film Critics and Journalists Association with the support of OSI Assistance Foundation-Armenia. According to the Project Director, the President of the Association Susanna Haroutiunian, the new specialized online edition is to become a field for public debate on the most sensitive issues of the national culture and thus reduce the distance between the state structures responsible for the cultural policy-making and the immediate participants of the cultural process. The Chief Editor of “Arvest” is Ruzan Zakarian.
ARMENIAN JOURNALISTS WON THE FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT
On October 18 in Yerevan the Fourth International Football Tournament among the CIS Journalists was held. The competition was organized by the Armenian Foreign Correspondents Association with the patronage of the RA President Robert Kocharian. The conductance of the tournament was assisted by the Government of Armenia, the Football Federation of Armenia, IREX/ProMedia.
6 teams took part in the tournament – the teams of Armenia, Belarus, Volgograd, Georgia, Odessa and Russian “Sport-Express” newspaper. The winner was the team of Armenian journalists that defeated the Georgian team scoring 1:0 in the final game. The third place was taken by the team of Belarus, which won the game with Volgograd.
